Meal No. 717: Kamado Grill-Smoked Boston Butt

I mentioned last week that I'd been talked into getting a kamado-style cooker-smoker-grill. With the beginning of outdoor grilling season, this product has returned to the aisles of Costco, and I found my way there and came home with one. As I've tried to learn a bit more about these rascals and get myself somewhat educated about them, I came across a blog that I really like, without having any idea if it dishes out good advice and recipes. It's called Blue State BBQ.

One piece of advice offered by the blogger there is to give a new kamado grill a chance to cure, by performing a 24-hour low-temp cook. Which he suggests is a great time to smoke a Boston butt, and I thought that was sound reasoning.

So this past Sunday, I got my first set of lump hardwood coals going sometime mid-morning. I felt I'd worked out the kinks enough and gotten the temperature to the right place (around 200F), and I'd already put a rub all over the pork roast and tied it. So around 1 o'clock Sunday afternoon, it went on the grill and looked like this:

I kept my eye on the temperature gauge throughout the day. It held pretty steady, which was awesome. I also put some apple wood chips on the coals a couple of times. There was a steady drop in the temps as the midnight hour approached, so I restocked the lump charcoal and added more wood chips. This gave me a chance to snap this photo of the pork shoulder after 11 hours on the grill:

It took me until about 1:30 am to feel like I had the heat adjusted back to the right mark of 200F. I got up just before 6:30 am this morning and found that it had dropped to about 150F. That's not terrible, and I opened up the air vents and stabilized it again for the rest of the morning.

I pulled the pork butt off the grill at noon (23 hours of cooking!) and it smelled incredible:

I know it looks rough with that dark caramelized bark on there. Let me just assure you that the taste was more than sufficient to compensate for its appearance. I think those in charge of Cyprus's care this week while I'm gone will be glad that I put the kamado to the test even though I wouldn't get to benefit much from its inaugural run.

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"Boston Butt," by Adam Berlian, who blogs at BlueStateBBQ.

"Adam's Barbecue Rub," by Adam Berlian, who blogs at BlueStateBBQ.

Kamado Meal #1

Meal No. 716: Ancho Chile Grilled Leg of Lamb

A special on American semi-boneless leg of lamb sent my large-group-invite apparatus into motion, and the plan this evening was for seven folks to gather round the Roediger House kitchen table and partake of a grilled feast. A couple of folks couldn't make it in the end, though, and it might have been a good thing after all: the group put quite a hurting on the foodstuffs and there was only a little bit left over. I have to wonder if I really would have been able to feed two more at dinner...

The very delicious centerpiece of tonight's fare was a grilled leg of lamb that had sat overnight in a delightful ancho chile-garlic-wine marinade. While it grilled tonight, I had another moment where I really, really wish I could blog smells.

While I guess I repeat it all too much, the guests say they do not mind when layered green bean casserole is on the menu. And what once was just for special holiday meals has become a more regular feature: slow cooker sweet potato casserole.

I'll blog about dessert later!

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"Grilled Leg of Lamb with Ancho Chile Marinade," by Jeanne Kelley. In Bon Appétit, June 2010.

"Layered Green Bean Casserole," a long-time Jones family favorite.

"Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Topping," from Southern Living Slow-Cooker Cookbook,  (Oxmoor House, 2006), p. 234-235.

Meal No. 715: Dijon Pork Medallions

It is a phenomenally gorgeous April weekend, and of course I'm stuck inside doing the horrible drudgery of my taxes, since they're due on Monday and I need a deadline in order to get things done. I still wanted a good Saturday night dinner and had already bought a pork tenderloin, but this one was pretty quick to put together.

I'm not sure if it was the very first grocery check-out recipe magazine that my mother picked up when I was starting to get into cooking, but it was an early one. She and I tried quite a few recipes when I would come home on breaks from my final year at the University of Virginia.

Tonight it had the customary accompaniment of mashed potatoes, and I also made a particularly good batch of sweet white corn.

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"Pork Medallions with Dijon Mushroom Sauce," by Frank Hollands of Minnesota. From Pillsbury Classic Cookbooks' A Taste of the BAKE-OFF Issue from March 2001, p. 40-41.

Meal No. 714: Grilled Ribeyes and French Fries

A long but good week on the road, and I can tell that I'm getting close to the end of travel season. One more long week to go, then a short week, and then a generous break for the month of May, mostly! After my multi-hour drive home this afternoon, I put very little pressure on myself. Instead, I fired up the soon-to-be-retired gas grill once more and had one of my best ribeyes in quite a while.

Jon Piper Loves RoHo Fudge

It seems my vacation over Spring Break involved a range of command performances in the kitchen. As previously mentioned, this spring vacation was greatly bolstered by the all-too-rare visit of Karissa and Jon Piper, who now live up in Ohio.

The special treat of their visit made it seem like a perfect time to throw together a big sheet of chocolate fudge with walnuts, which is one of Jon Piper's absolute favorites. Seems to me it's been a while since I've made any and we all found ourselves going back to the pan or plates for additional samples and bites.

Roediger House Welcomes a Kamado Grill

This is what I was recently talked into:

I purchased it and put it together this past weekend, but I'll have to hope for some time next weekend to start breaking it in.

In the meantime, I've ordered lump charcoal and a cookbook that promises to teach me how to be a kamado griller.

Spring 2013: Update from Early April

First Goldfinch Spotting

Not a great picture, but what is rarer than a goldfinch sighting is that there were two goldfinch couples on and around this feeder several mornings ago. They jetted off before I could begin to get in position with my zoom lens.

Chocolate Cake and Homemade Frozen Custard

For last night's dinner, I got it in my head to also throw together some dessert. Of course, by the time I had everything going, this was a bit more than I could gracefully handle and still meet my 6:30 pm target. So, I rushed the frosting, probably could've put some more confectioner's sugar in it, and didn't try to make it pretty.

But boy howdy it was a tasty cake. I used to make this with some regularity, back when I was feeding my Wake Forest University social studies education students. This is Hershey's deep dark chocolate cake with a chocolate buttercream frosting. It's decadently chocolatey, for sure.

As if cake wasn't enough, the gorgeous weather (I feel like spring finally arrived this weekend, frankly) put me in the mood to make the season's first batch of homemade ice cream in the big bucket freezer with the ice and rock salt and all. A few years ago, Donna Whitley-Smith shared with me her mother's and grandmother's recipe for frozen lemon custard, and I just went with the vanilla version of it tonight. Since I used vanilla bean paste, it jazzed it up with all those marvelous bean specks, too.

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"Deep Dark Chocolate Cake," from Hershey's Chocolate Lover's Cookbook. Wilton, CT: Joshua Morris Publishing (1993), p. 20-21.

"Frozen Custard," by Willa Whitley and shared by Donna Whitley-Smith, June 2007.

Meal No. 713: Creamy Swiss Baked Chicken Breasts

One of the earliest entries in my personal recipe book: Creamy Swiss Chicken Breasts, shared with me back in 1997 by my dear friend Cindy Coulson. It was a favorite dish to make the summer I lived with Sheryl Cohen, during my PhD program at the University of Virginia. Good memories of excellent times with both of those terrific ladies are an added bonus whenever I return to this recipe.

Tonight it was for a table of five folks, one of whom proclaimed this the best meal he's yet had at the Roediger House. Guess I'll have to work on trying to beat that sometime.

The sides this evening: best potluck macaroni and cheese (it was so very good last week; I had to make it again); and the traditional Campbell's greenbean casserole...the one with french fried onions.

I'll blog about the desserts (yes, plural!) while I'm on the road this coming week.

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"Easy Creamy Swiss Baked Chicken Breasts," a recipe shared with me by Cindy Coulson in 1997. Versions of the recipe can be found here and here.

"Best Potluck Macaroni and Cheese," from Cook's Country, April/May 2007, p. 11.

"Green Bean Casserole," from Campbell's Kitchens.

Meal No. 712: Asian-Glazed Pan-Seared Pork Chops

Asian-Glazed Center Cut Pork Chops
Roasted Rosemary Baby Gold Potato Wedges
Baby Brussels Sprouts

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"Great Glazed Pork Chops," by Nina West. From Cook's Illustrated, March/April 2006, p. 18-19.

Meal No. 711: Pipetizer Casserole

Ah, Pipetizer Casserole: glad you could make a return visit to the Roediger House. This dish has been on my mind because of last week's visit by its namesake: Jon Piper.

And it was delicious as ever.

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"Pipetizer Casserole" is an adaptation of "Tailgate Casserole," from The Big Book of Casseroles, by Maryana Vollstedt. San Francisco: Chronicle Books (2000), p. 120.

Cap'n Crunch Cookies, Yet Again

While friends Karissa and Jon Piper from Cleveland Heights were here over Spring Break, I was yet again commanded to produce a batch of Cap'n Crunch cookies. I think I'd made clear, when they first appeared at the Roediger House, that they'd probably be subject to command performance.

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"Cap'n Crunch Cookies," found online at The Capitol Baker, with credit going to The Sugar Plum Blog for inspiration and the source of the adapted recipe.

Chocolate-Coffee Cheesecake with Mocha Sauce

For dessert last night (Meal No. 710), I took some extra time and tried another new recipe for cheesecake. Well, new to me, although it's been in my file a while.

This is chocolate-coffee cheesecake with mocha sauce, and while the recipe I drew on to make it had alterations to make it lighter, I did not follow them. I used full-fat cream cheese, full-fat butter, real heavy cream, and so on. I think we were all glad I did, because it was delicious.

Heading Into the Oven

Right After Baking

Ready for the Mocha Sauce

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"Lightened Chocolate-Coffee Cheesecake with Mocha Sauce," by Holley Johnson. From Southern Living, April 2006, p. 218.

Meal No. 710: New Year's Day Meatballs

On my last night at home for the Easter/Spring Break vacation, a large dinner for a fun collection of friends was called for. To serve the masses with high hopes the food would be more than enough, I made two batches of New Year's Day Meatballs.

I returned to the Best Potluck Macaroni and Cheese recipe that was probably my first foray into that ooey-gooey side dish, and it was closer to the creamy goodness that marked that first time of making it. (Ever since then, I've been less happy with the result). It might have been helped along by the substitution of smoked Gouda in place of the white American cheese the recipe suggests.

The cooling touch of broccoli salad rounded out the plate. Contrary to my normal practice, I added the golden raisins that the recipe calls for, and when I was cleaning plates after supper, I saw at least three that had neat piles of them pushed off to the side. Guess I'll go back to the raisin-less version in the future.

I can also report that I'm not excited about the new salad spinner I picked up on impulse at Costco, mostly because it does not seem to get the spinning up to a high enough velocity. I did discover, though, that its velocity of spin is enough to rock-it-walk-it right off the countertop when I stepped outside with a bag of trash while its spinning wound down:

At least it had the good grace and manners to land right-side-up, and I lost very few florets.

As we lolled about after dinner enjoying dessert (coming up in a later blog), mention was made of a YouTube video. In our modern wired world, that meant an iPhone was brought out and the tableful of folks turned their attention to the humor of a small screen:

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"New Year's Day Meatballs," from Carol Fultz of Indiana (2001).

"Best Potluck Macaroni and Cheese," from Cook's Country, April/May 2007, p. 11.

"Broccoli Salad," from Cook's Country, August/September 2012, p. 7.

Meal No. 709: Grilled Veal Chops

The first day of April was picture-perfect, with warm sunny skies and bright sunshine. There was a cool breeze much of the day, though, that led me to wait until close to 8:30 pm to fire up the grill for this evening's fare: veal T-bone chops with shredded lemon-basil Brussels sprouts and rosemary-thyme fingerling potatoes. You are unlikely to see a repeat of those shredded Brussels sprouts, though. They were a bit yucky.

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"Grilled Veal T-bones," in Cuisine at Home, Issue 93, June 2012, p. 24-25.

"Lemon Basil Brussels Sprouts," by Barbara Lenier, who blogs at somethingthatsbeautiful.blogspot.com.

"Roasted Fingerling Potatoes with Seasoned Salt," from MarthaStewart.com.

Meal No. 708: Chicken Korma over Basmati

Photo Credit: John Borwick

Way, way, WAY back in the day, when Karissa and Jon Piper lived just down the street and we caught up with one another most nights (it seems) for dinner somewhere in town, we made regular treks to Kabab's Indian restaurant. At the time, it was located at the intersection of Fourth and Marshall Streets and we considered it to be the best Indian in town. It had the added advantage of being walking distance for us from our homes on Spring Street.

I'm sure this wonderful couple chose various items from the Kabab's menu, but I seem to recall that Jon had a fondness for chicken korma. Too bad their vacation time at the Roediger House had to end today at mid-day, because that means Jon missed tonight's first trial at that very dish.

I'd like it to pop with more flavor, as I've come to expect with chicken with coronation sauce, butter chicken, and chicken tikka masala. Still, the korma sauce was delightful with the browned chicken cubes on that bed of fragrant basmati.

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"Classic Korma Sauce for Chicken," from 400 Sauces, by Catherine Atkinson, Christine France, and Maggie Mayhew. Hermes House (2006, 2008), p. 158.

Meal No. 707: Grilled Lamb Chops

The joy of having The Pipers in town this weekend continues. Not only did I get to enjoy spending most of the day with them, including lunch at long-time favorite The Fourth Street Filling Station, but they were able to make it to dinner this evening as well. That's because they had to have a shorter visit with their friends the Binkleys, who live out in East Bend. That smaller window with the Binkleys meant Karissa and Jon were free for dinner after all.

Sam Binkley was the architect for the renovation and addition project of 2008-2009, thanks to Karissa and Jon's recommendation. He did a beautiful job with the designs, as I think most of you are aware.

Tonight we had marinated lamb chops that were then grilled, along with baked sweet potatoes and garlicky green beans. Turned out to be pretty tasty, I'd say.

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Grilled Lamb Chops:
Based on the marinade ideas from:
"Pan-Grilled Lamb Shoulder Chops," from the FoodNetwork.com.
...with instructions for grilling found at:
"Grilled Lamb Shoulder Chops with Herb Aioli," by Martha Stewart. Found online.

"Garlicky Green Beans," from Cuisine at Home, Issue No. 93, May/June 2012, p. 34.

Meal No. 706: Miso-Glazed Salmon & Leftover Sides

Not my best meal. Not sure that I find wild-caught Alaskan sockeye salmon to be worth the extra cost, although the part of me that should invest more concern in issues of global sustainability and environmental impact is supposed to care about more than taste. Served with leftover sides from last night's pork chops meal.

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"Miso-Glazed Salmon Steaks," in Bon Appétit, May 2011, p. 58.

Meal No. 705: Smothered Pork Chops with Onion-Thyme Gravy

Given how long it's been since Jon and Karissa Piper came back for a Winston-Salem visit, they have filled up their dance card with visits to other friends in town, and I'll only get to make dinner for them one time. (We might have eaten here last night, but with their arrival right after I drove in from Virginia, we went to the old favorite: Arigato's.)

Tonight they indulged me and let me be the maker of dinner, and I went with a favorite that hasn't been on the menu in quite a while: smothered pork chops with an onion-thyme gravy. Alongside: company mashed potatoes and layered green bean casserole.

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"Smothered Pork Chops," by Erika Bruce. In Cook's Country, April/May 2011, p. 22-23.

"Layered Green Bean Casserole," a Jones family favorite.

"Company Mashed Potatoes," a Jones family favorite.

The Return of the Pipers

The timing of Easter and Spring Break means that I get a few days off the road and a chance to just enjoy being at home. These last few months since Christmas have involved considerably more travel than what I had originally planned for (and I'm not complaining...really). I do love the work I get to do but I think regular Roediger House blog readers understand well how much I value the time I get to be back in Winston-Salem.

Speaking of people being back in Winston-Salem, that happy and fun couple you see pictured to the right are using their own Spring Break days to return to this fair city. These folks are Karissa and Jon Piper, who now live up in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

For my first three years living in the Roediger House, the Pipers were my neighbors from down the street. As I've mentioned previously in a blog post, these two first spotted my house when it was for sale and pushed, cajoled, persuaded, and otherwise compelled me to buy it back in 2003.

We were all rather inseparable for a few years, and then Jon got a fantastic job opportunity in Cleveland and Karissa, who'd twice been a student of mine at Wake Forest, landed a high school teaching position in a school district outside Cleveland that's pretty hard to get a job in.

Because Jon works in the medical imaging business, and because there are hospitals here in Winston-Salem and in Greensboro that are among his client base, he has been able to visit the Roediger House several times. But this was Karissa's first trip back to Winston-Salem in seven years.

That is much too long. So I'll count on them to return again before long.

O Captain, My Captain

It has been years and years and years since I had a bowl of Cap'n Crunch. It was mighty good.